Diamante Jewellery  is vintage  jewellery which sparkles and shine like diamonds but is very much more affordable than the real thing.  Diamante  are made of high quality lead glass  and can be varied in shape, size and colour to suit the jewellery designer.

 In the USA diamante are known as Rhinestones. During the Georgian and Victorian eras the equivalent stones were known as paste. Originally diamante were made in Czechoslovakia and probably the best ones are made by Swarovski in Austria. The backs of the stones can be coated in silver of gold coloured foil reflect more light out of the stone and give it a higher sparkle.

You can find Diamante can be set into vintage costume  jewellery on their own or combined with other types of stones. There are several ways diamante can be set into jewellery, either glued or prong set being the most common. Look carefully at your diamante jewellery, can you see the prongs?  If so it is better quality than jewellery with the diamante glued in and is most likely genuine vintage jewellery as modern pieces tend to be glued.

diamante brooch

History of Diamante Jewellery

Paste jewellery was developed about 1730 , Georgian paste jewellery always has the stones foil backed and the paste will be enclosed in a closed backed setting in the jewellery just as fine jewellery was at that time. There is little real Georgian paste jewellery around these days and what we do see is often spoilt as moisture has got into the setting and the foil has lifted from the back of the paste stones.

During the Victorian ear paste stones would be set into gold and silver as well as into costume jewellery. I quite frequently come across Victorian gold brooches set with  paste instead of diamonds which shows how highly regarded paste jewellery was.

The Edwardian used paste jewellery extensively. White jewellery such as  diamonds and pearls was high fashion and every one could afford a paste brooch to copy this style

I cant find exactly where the distinction between paste and diamante started but it is round about the 1920s. It appears that pieces of Edwardian age and before are known as paste and later than 1920 are diamante.  Of course white diamante were all the rage during the 1920s when they were extensively used to immitate diamonds. The 1930s saw a broader palette of colours used and combining diamante with other materials such as enamel.  Many of the diamante used during the 1940s were larger and in colours such as gold and blue which suited the big bold jewellery of the time.  During the 1920s to 1940s diamante could be set into materials such as Bakelite as well as into silver and base metal ( pot metal).

Diamante evolved during the 1950s with creations such as the Aurora Borealis finish which is a rainbow effect iridescent coating. Crystal clear diamante were popular for what has become known as Prom Jewellery which is jewellery with hundreds of prong set diamante strung as a chin into a necklace bracelet or earring. This type of vintage prom jewellery is suitable for wearing to a wedding or party today.

1960s fashion wasn’t big on diamante and for some years years they were rarely seen in jewellery.  The diamante made its re-appearance in the 1970s disco era and become really big again during the 1980s club era.

Diamante shapes 

Diamante are  often given the same name as precious gemstones:

Baguette, rectangular long and narrow with faceted edges

Cabochon, half a ball shape with a flat back

Chaton, cushion, Dentelle, Emerald, flatback. Marquis, Mine cut, pear cut, princess cut Rose cur, round cut and square cur are all names which you may come across when looking at diamante.

Care of  Diamante jewellery

Take care not to get your diamante wet, water behind the stone will ruin the foil and stones become dull, the setting beneath them can go green or they can fall out all together.  The damage water causes has ruined countless pieces of good diamante jewellery.  Try cleaning with s soft brush such as a dry tooth brush to start with followed by a light polish with a lint free cloth. If this has not worked you can use something like a tiny spray of clear window cleaning liquid onto your brush. almost dry this off the brush and then rub over the surface of the glass. Then polish dry and turn the piece upside down to make sure any residual moisture drys out rather than into the piece.

Please do put your diamante jewellery on after your perfume and makeup to keep the jewellery as clean as possible

 

Condition

I would say that with Diamante jewellery condition is extremely important perhaps a little more so than with other types of vintage and antique jewellery. This is because diamante jewellery especially from 1920s onwards is relatively plentiful and therefore it is not worth buying in poor condition. It is possible to buy replacement diamante and with a little effort replace one yourself if necessary but it will take a lot of time and effort probably exceeding the worth of the piece itself.

Names to look out for

Many top costume jewellery designers have used diamante in their jewellery. Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Norman Hartnell, Coro and Corocraft, Trifari, Eisenberg, Swarovski, Hobe, Boucher, Hollycraft, Weiss, Regency and Schreiner, Miriam Haskell is all named Jewellery with Diamante which is worth looking out for.